


Sore Throat

by Athena_Yule



Series: Throwing Gwenvid AUs Against The Wall [1]
Category: Camp Camp (Web Series)
Genre: Angst, F/M, Hanahaki Disease, Jasper and Bonquisha are mentioned, Not Happy, Unrequited Love
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-10-01
Updated: 2017-10-01
Packaged: 2019-01-07 07:49:00
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,593
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12228639
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Athena_Yule/pseuds/Athena_Yule
Summary: Hanahaki: The disease one would catch if their love was unrequited. Petals would fall from their mouth, and the unrequited love would go with it.David was pretty tired of it.





	Sore Throat

A

_The first time that David had caught the disease, he was nine years old._

 

_Jasper was the name of the one he had fallen for. A kid who was only a couple of years older than Davey himself. Davey himself was actually surprised when he first realised that he had a crush, and who would've thought otherwise? The camp delinquent falling for the model camper? That sort of thing only ever happened in trashy romance movies. And yet, falling for Jasper is exactly what Davey did. That was also the first time that Davey had ever caught Hanahaki._

 

_He didn't know what it was at first, of course he wouldn't. But lack of information wasn't something that stealing one of the counsellor's encyclopedias while they were distracted wouldn't fix. It was that day that he learned the basics of what the disease was. The section in the book was tiny, but it told Davey what he needed to know. He looked at a line that said that the flowers he coughed up would correspond to his personality. He wondered what petunias represented. When he was satisfied, he placed the encyclopedia back where he found it and left the cabin to stare at the counsellors who were frantically trying to stomp out the oil fire that he had caused. It seemed that there was nothing to worry about: He'd just have to wait it out. If he made sure that no one would find out, there would be no problem._

 

_The coughing ended about five days later. Hanahaki took about two weeks to end without confronting the object of affections. The day that Davey stopped coughing was the day before they found the body._

 

_Years down the line, he'd find that he still cough out a few petunia petals around that time of the year.  
_

 

_XxxxXxxx_

 

_The second time that David had caught Hanahaki he was sixteen years old._

 

_He had gotten a real job for the first time: Working in the lobby of a fast food chain. It was fast paced, but nothing David couldn't handle. The work was only made better by /her/._

 

_Her name was Carol, she had green eyes, red hair, and was the second person David ever had a crush on. It took him three months of working with her to catch Hanahaki, and it was really bad when he finally did._

 

_David wasn't sure why that was: Perhaps Hanahaki got worse the older you were, or maybe it got worse the more times that you fell in love. Whatever the case, it was bad._

 

_Perhaps the reason had something to do with the guy David came across her making out with._

 

_That was the day that David realised two things: That the petals you would cough out would change based on how you changed yourself, and that the last of your feelings would be removed when you finally coughed out an entire flower._

 

_He stared into the fireplace of his home as the daffodil burned, and realised that the burning of his lungs was the only pain he could feel in that moment._

 

_XxxxXxxx_

 

 

_The twelfth time that he had caught Hanahaki he was twenty four years old._

 

_Her name was Bonquisha, and for a while David believed that perhaps this time things would be different, that maybe she wouldn't leave. That maybe this time it wouldn't end up with a broken heart and the ever-familiar daffodils that seemed to follow him wherever he went nowadays. He tried to make sure that it wouldn't happen this time, but all his efforts were in vain when, two weeks and four days into the relationship, he finally felt that god-forsaken familiar tickle at the back of his throat._

 

_Bonquisha broke up with him one week and three days later, and it was on that day that Max and the rest of the camp found out about his illness._

 

_It was sort of odd, in a way. He typically never let someone find out, but he supposed there wasn't really a way to hide it when he started coughing only a few feet away from Max, Neil and Nikki. It was at least a comfort, knowing that he didn't need to run away when it happened now._

 

_Oddly enough, the whole flower didn't come for a while. Usually the flower came on the day that he would finally be confronted and dumped, but not this time. No, instead it would come a week later, right after what would probably be the worst thing that he had ever done in front of other people._

 

_He wasn't sure of what made him snap, but he did, and before he knew it he was punching Bonquisha's new boyfriend and trying to break a chair over his head. He wasn't sure for how long he was beating Jacob into q pulp, but by the time that Bonquisha had come to her senses and pulled Davod away, Jacob was unconscious. Finally snapped out of his rage, David stared at the carnage he had caused._

 

_Jacob had two black eyes, he was bleeding from the forehead hard enough for the blood to wash over his left eye, he had multiple wooden splinters on his face and hands, and now that David thought about it, perhaps it wouldn't be too far fetched for Jacob to have broken a bone. He, as well as all of the others in that diner stared at the bleeding body. The waitress David had seen before had disappeared, most likely to go call an ambulance. David turned to his campers. Max stared at him in shock and- fear?_

_"David, what the fuck was that?!"_

_"I..."_

 

_He couldn't stay here. He /couldn't/ stay here. Unable to gather any thoughts, he simply ran out of the diner, got into his car, and drove to Camp Campbell._

 

_That day was one of two that Gwen would catch him coughing up a flower._

 

* * *

 

 

The thirteenth time that David caught Hanahaki, he was twenty four years old.

 

He himself couldn't believe how quickly he somehow managed to move on from Bonquisha, but he supposed that it was just an unavoidable side effect of Hanahaki. However, that didn't mean that he had to fall head over heels for another so quickly.

 

There was a ten day grace period between Bonquisha's final daffodil and the first petal that he coughed up due to Gwen. It was almost impressive with how pathetic it was.

 

David took every physical precaution necessary to avoid anyone finding out. He'd eat away from the others, burn any and all petals, had all the camp activities be ones that didn't need his direct supervision... No one needed to know about this, and so no one would find out.

 

However, as weeks passed, David slowly realised that he wouldn't be able to do that. His illness should have ended weeks ago. Now, it wasn't unusual for Hanahaki to last longer than about two weeks, but David knew that it wasn't just a prolonged case. Not with him. So he sighed, stood up, and got to thinking about how he could ask Gwen without hurting her or himself.

 

XxxxXxxx

 

"Gwen?"

"JESUS- Oh, it's just you. Don't do that kinda shit, you asshole. I was ready to throw one of Nurf's confiscated knives at you."

"Right."

"...David? You don't look so good."

"...I need to talk with you about something, Gwen."

 

His tone was unusual. The smile had dropped. Something told Gwen that this was serious.

"Umm, okay?"

"Take a look at this."

 

David reached into his pockets, and pulled out a few daffodil petals. He placed them into her hand.

"Do you know what these are?"

"Daffodils? But they don't grow around Lake Lilac... Hold on. Is this from-"

"Yeah."

"...You're still not over her?"

"I never said that."

"But then- Who?"

 

 

David stared into her eyes, and then looked away, coughing unto his hand. Gwen came to a conclusion, and her jaw dropped in surprise.

"David-"

"Yeah."

"I- I'm-"

"I understand Gwen, it's fine."

 

His coughing got more serious. Gwen stared as he coughed out enough petals for a wedding. David held out his hand in front of Gwen, stopping her from coming any closer.

"Sorry about thi- I'm gonna- go now."

"Wait!"

 

She watched as he ran outside and into the woods. Shaking her head, she followed soon after, thoughts racing through her mind.

 

XxxxXxxx

 

She found him in a clearing, seemingly trying to cough out his lungs. She approached him warily, but stopped as he stood up and turned to her, his trademark wide grin back on his face.

"Oh, hey there Gwen! Sorry I ran away so quickly, I'm all better now!"

 

Gwen blinked. This... Wasn't what she expected. Far from it, in fact.

 

"Here, take this." David placed something in her palm, and closed her fingers over it. He started to make his way back to the camp, but turned back to her.

"Gwen? Aren't you coming too?"

"I'll... You go on ahead. I'll catch up."

"Alright, but be careful!"

"You too."

 

After David disappeared from view, Gwen unfurled her palm to see what David had given her: A single daffodil.

 

She swallowed, and started to go back down the road she came, only to stop as she felt some sort of odd tickling sensation. She coughed. Once, then twice into her hand. It ended pretty quickly, and she pulled her face away from her hand only to stop and stare at it.

 

In her hand, there lay a single flower petal.


End file.
